Analysis

Lucy Rose - "Middle of the bed"

Camerawork
The video for this song includes a number of technical elements that help to make it successful. The first element I'm going to talk about is the use of camerawork. The general camerawork used throughout this video is close up of Lucy Rose herself in various locations and settings lip singing to the song itself. This is effective as you can relate the song to the artist straight away, but is also a conventional form for a music video as it promotes the artist. This is also effective in portaying the emotions felt by the artist towards the lyrics. This is a typical form of a music video and is also conventional for an Indie genre music video in which the artists are filmed singing their songs.

Another use of camerawork is the long shot of her standing in front of a brick wall. This is effective as it connotes an urban feel towards the video but is also a very simple shot which fits well with the simple, relaxed tone to the song itself.

There are also many tracking shots of the artist on various vehicles such as a bike and a car whilst riding through town which again signifies the urban side to the video which is very conventional for an Indie music video but also links to the lyrics in the song of "all over the town" in which the various shots of the artist around the town portray. Another example of camera work working with lyrics is at the end in which a long shot is used again of the artist in front of the brick wall in which she walks away following the narrative that she is "over it."

Mise-en-scene
Another technical aspect used well in this video is the use of mise-en-scene. An example of this is the lighting used throughout the video which is high key lighting to highlight the fact that she is outside in a public environment of her town. This connotes a happy atmosphere which is convention for many Indie music video's due to the happy sounds of the instruments and phrases used throughout.

The costumes used in this video are also very effective as she is portrayed in jeans and jumpers for the majority of the video which connote the British weather and climate which is again conventional for an Indie video to connote their home place, but it also connotes her youth and style as she is portrayed in a way that is stereotypical for a common middle class person. Also the settings are very effective as they show a range of areas of the town such as streets and various buildings, pubs/cafe's etc which again connote the urban styled theme of a conventional Indie video but also allowing the audience to relate the video as they as common places again representing Lucy Rose as a typical, common person rather than her being of a higher class in which other genre's of music can show whereas Indie artists tend to be more down to earth and try to portray themselves as more like everyday people than celebrities which is then easier to relate to as a fan.

This particular image to the left is a prime example as in other genre's you would expect the artist to always look their best and glamorous, whereas as you can see, Indie artists aren't afraid to look messy in order to be as normal and down to earth as possible. This shot also connotes my previous point of trying to show the typical weather of the country that the particular artist is from, in this case England. Props also help to make this video successful as vintage items such as cars and bikes are used which are conventional for Indie artists as they known to be unique and old fashioned and are stereotyped to shop in old shops and charity shops therefore connoting Lucy Rose to be a typical Indie artist.

Editing
Another technical aspect used well in this video is the use of editing. A fade is used to open the video and again to close the video which is a signifier to the audience that the story/narrative is starting and ending, but is also a subtle use of editing which fits the genre well as it is slow paced and gentle which fits the soft tone of the music rather than a fast paced edit such as a wipe which is usually used with a fast paced song such as rock and pop. Another use of editing is the cross cutting used between all the small close up shots of the artist in various places which is used to connote a natural atmosphere but also by using various locations makes the video more appealing to the audience as aposed to just having her singing in one place with her band but also again, links back to the lyrics of being "all around town" so therefore giving the lyrics and narrative more meaning. Another use of editing is a graphic match between her pulling on her cardigan to her in another location doing the same thing with a scarf, this is effective as it shows continuity between the scenes and helps with the general flow of the video which is very smooth which you would expect with an Indie video due to the stereotypical calm/smooth atmosphere portrayed by the song.

Representation
In terms of representation, this video only focus' specifically on the artist and representing her as a typical indie artist by using conventions as described above such as jumpers and jeans, wet hair weather and being filmed in very stereotypical middle classed areas such as pubs, towns and rivers. However this is an unconventional way to advertise a younger artist as you would expect scenery such as clubs and night time shots in cities and urban areas, however this video represents her as an older character than what she is by the public town shots in which you would stereotypically expect a middle aged woman with a family and kids to be represented.

Narrative
There isn't much of a narrative to this specific video and the little narrative that is included is in relation to the lyrics in the song which are about a girl trying to get over an ex boyfriend and the old memories they had together. Therefore in this video the shots of her in these specific places relate to her relationship and memories with this man when she used to visit these "common" places with him but is now showing herself alone in these places feeling perfectly fine and "over it." I think that this is partly the reason of having only various shots of herself in this video as it connotes that she is independent and alone and doesn't need anyone else even though she "loves him" because she's "over it, over you." The specific video's that connote this feeling is "say I love you, all over the town" which again focus on the idea of her being shown all around the town, alone.


I analysed this video as it is part of the same genre as the video/song I am thinking for doing for my coursework so I can use my analysis of this video to see what went well and what didn't go so well. From this video I can now work out that a vague narrative doesn't make a video very exciting so for my video I will make sure I include a better narrative to my song. I will also use a more varied range of camera angles as in this video camera shots are not varied which makes the video less interesting to a viewer. However I think that Lucy Rose has promoted herself well in this video as viewers can relate to her after seeing this video so I will try to make my artists stand out slightly, but not too much as I want the viewers of my video to be able to relate to them which is conventional for an Indie music video. I will also include lip syncing in my video as I think it's worked very effectively in this particular video.